Influence of irrigation variability on stink bug performance in North Carolina corn

The stink bug species complex is an important pest of corn, soybean, cotton, and other crops across the Southeastern United States. In 2023, this complex was the most damaging arthropod pest of corn in this region. As average temperatures and intervals of time between rainfall events both increase in this region, drought stress is similarly projected to increase. Furthermore, the interaction of stink bug feeding in drought-stressed corn is not yet fully understood. During field experiments in 2022 and 2023, we noted that stink bugs were less prominent in drought stressed corn fields. Therefore, we hypothesized that stink bugs might not perform as well in drought stressed corn and that injury to drought-stressed corn may be less severe. We designed an experiment to test this hypothesis, growing corn plants in ideal, over-irrigated, and drought-stressed scenarios. We caged a common stink bug pest of corn, the brown stink bug, Euschistus servus (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae, Say) on the stalk on nodes surrounding the primary ear in late vegetative stages of corn. To analyze performance, we evaluated stink bug survival, total number of egg clutches, and average clutch size. Analysis of the effects of stink bug injury on corn yield was determined by measuring the yield components of total kernel rows, kernels per row, kernel weight per 100 kernels, and kernel moisture. This study will provide valuable insight on stink bug ecology and could impact irrigation decisions in the Southeast where stink bugs are prevalent.